The prior art has seen a wide variety of control apparatus for controlling the sails in a sailboat for most efficient sailing of the boat. It is recognized that sailing craft are widely differing in sophistication, length and the controls thereon. This invention is particularly useful in the sailboats of the 21 foot to 50 foot in length variety and having the usual lines for controlling the sails, masts for supporting the force of the sails and the like. It has relatively little applicability for the new movable sails on surfboards or for craft that do not employ the lines and accessories on the usual type sailboat.
Even on such sailboats, however, the prior art has seen the development of a wide variety of improved approaches. One of the improved approaches is the use of a furling jib system for taking up a headsail. Such a furling jib system may be used to furl, or take up, a headsail by being rotated and move the headsail laterally instead of having to move it vertically. When this is done, as will be appreciated, the furling jib system thereafter has the headsail wrapped around it such that conventional approach to moving of lines or conventional approaches to connecting the tack of a spinnaker with the forestay, or furling jib system, cannot be employed to allow vertical movement since the headsail wrapped around the furling jib system would be damaged. It is in this environment that the apparatus of this invention has applicability.
A search of the prior art reveals the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 12,506 shows a ship's mast hoops in which roller or rollers are interposed as a part of a mast hoop to reduce the friction of movement along a mast.
U.S. Pat. No. 85,234 shows a mast hoop in which spheres are rotatably mounted on a metallic part B of a mast hoop that is otherwise wooden for reduced friction for movement along the mast.
U.S. Pat. No. 93,303 shows a ring with a plurality of rollers disposed thereon for reducing friction for movement along a mast. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 387,767 discloses a ring 10 having rollers 15 loosely thereon for reducing friction of movement along a mast.
From the foregoing it can be seen that the prior art structures do not provide an improvement that will allow vertical movement of a tack of a spinnaker along a furling jib system with a headsail wrapped around it. Neither does the prior art provide any suggestion to incorporate such an improvement into modern sailing apparatus.